a. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains generally to video information and more particularly to post-production visual enhancements and modifications.
b. Description of the Background
Currently, both local and national television commercials are placed in 30-second blocks during television shows. These advertisements provide the financial backing of modern television. However, with growing viewer intolerance of these ads along with technological advances, such as the use of personal video recorders, viewing of advertisements is decreasing. Thus, companies have expanded into embedded advertising, such as selectively placing a product in the hands of a television personality during the programming interval. In this manner, companies with national advertising budgets can promote products/services in a less intrusive manner.
If such embedded advertising was more versatile in nature, such advertising could have a widespread impact on the way products are promoted. Current methods of embedded advertising are part of the original video production and do not have such versatility. In addition, embedded advertising is very expensive and inflexible because it must be included in the original recording. Currently, local affiliates and smaller cable systems do not provide any way to embed advertising, and therefore, cannot offer embedded advertising. Further, once embedded advertising is included in a video production, there has been no effective way to remove or alter such advertising.
A need therefore exists for providing more flexible embedded advertising in a simple and inexpensive manner. In that regard, the term “advertisement” can refer to various forms of visual alteration to the video display, including, but not by way of limitation, any type of informational visual alterations of the video content. Content may include any type of visual information on any desired medium capable. Content may comprise various types of data.
Other procedures have included techniques for “on-content” enhancements, such as the use of “hot spots” as disclosed in U.S. Provisional Application serial No. 60/243,107, filed Oct. 24, 2000 entitled “CREATING ON-CONTENT ENHANCEMENTS”, now U.S. Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 10/041,881, filed Oct. 24, 2001 having the same title, both of which are specifically incorporated herein by reference for all that they discloses and teach. In accordance with the above referenced application, various elements of a particular scene may have a “hot spot” (enhancement) associated with the element. These hot spots may be presented in a number of ways such as with a colored border, a colored spot, a dim pulsating border, graying of the actual object, or by any number of other presentation schemes that distinguish the hot spot from a traditional video display element.
The hot spot, which acts as an interactive link, appears directly over the object, and may appear as part of the object, in a particular scene. For example, if during a television episode the characters are eating pizza, the hot spot, in the form of a colored border, spot or other scheme may appear over or on the pizza box. Activation of the hot spot by a cursor or pointer links the viewer to the local pizza company so that the viewer can interactively order a pizza while watching the show.